Newspapers / Galax News (Highlands, N.C.) / Aug. 12, 1971, edition 1 / Page 4
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SIX POINTS ABOUT PEARLS These points are about cultured pearls, only. There are two other kinds, of course, the natural and the artificial. Don't get them confused Compare them with roses: there are wild roses, cultivated roses and artificial roses. Natural pearls are the wild ones, found accidentally by divers collecting pearl shell to make mother of pearl items. Perhaps only one shell in every thousand contains a reasonably good pearl* Cultured pearls are the cultivated ones, produced under very carefully controlled conditions! perfect ones are plentiful, over 10,000,000 being produced in 1938. Artificial pearls, like artificial roses, are imitations, ma,de usually of glass, coated with a special preparation of fish scalesI normally this is damaged where the bead has been drilled so that an examination of the edges of the holes will usually reveal the truth. SHAPE - Round predominates but there are mar^ others such as drops, buttons and baroques. We concentrate on the round. For a loose undrilled pearl the test is that it must roll straight, on a flat and horizontal sheet of glass. COLOR - The most expensive color is not white, nor golden but what is termed Rosee, a very pale pink, so pale that the shade is not easy to see. Differences in color are not so noticeable when a necklace is worn or held stretched out, but when coiled up in the palm of the hand variations will show more readily because of the contrast with the others near it| the hand is better than black velvet, because the powerful black hinders the sensitivity of the eye. BLEMISEES - These may be spots, dimples, cracks, flaws, scaling or any other imperfections. More than three spots should never be seen on any pearl in the cheapest necklace. LUSTER - This means simply the degree of polish. Pearls are naturally polished by the oyster, as is the inside of the shell, but this can be improved by proper treatment. Here it may be noted that most damage to necklaces is caused by taking them off at night after the dance or show and dropping them carelessly on a more or less dusty dressing tablei they should be wrapped in their usual piece of soft tissue and treated gently. M'lTCHIMG - This is also connected with color. To see if a necklace is well matched coil it in the palm of the hand as mentioned under color. GRADUATION-Here we lock for straight lines, if the necklace under consideration is stretched out straight on a table and the pearls are all the same size, obviously the line running along the top of all the pearls must be strickly straight, if any of the pearls is larger a bump will appear, if smaller it will be revealed by a dip. S T •0 N L A N T R N S T 0 ORIENTAL ANTIQUES CONTEMPORARY GIFTS L A- N T DAILY: EVENING: SUNDAY: 10:00 A.H. TO 5:30 P.H^ 7:30 P.M. TO 10:00 P.N 1:00 P.M. TO 5:30 P.N.
Galax News (Highlands, N.C.)
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Aug. 12, 1971, edition 1
4
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